Resizing partitions

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bernie
  • Start date Start date
B

Bernie

So a couple of hours ago I used Vista's built in partition resizing
tool. This is a very welcome addition. It was easy to use and very fast.
I shrank one partition and created two new ones in a couple of minutes.
Very impressive.
 
I shrank the Vista partition from within Vista. It might have worked for
you but so fast you didn't notice it?
 
I looked at the Ranish site a few days ago before I knew the Vista
feature was even there. As I didn't need to increase the size of a
partition I didn't notice if the function was included. Obviously it
would be difficult to do if there were no free space to expand into but
I don't know if there is a minimum amount required.

I don't know what is meant here with "fault tolerance".
 
Did you shrink and create partitions on your system drive, or on a different
hard drive?
The only time I tried to shrink a partition, it didn't do a thing........
 
Bernie--

One thing I would like to know about the Vista diskmanager--it seemed it
will shrink partitions but I saw no where to enlarge them. Is that
dependent on a certain amount of free space on the drive? The good news is
that what it does is supposed to be fault tolerant. Yet when I looked it
said "no fault tolerance."

Keep in mind Ranish--for free it's a good reliable deal. I don't yet know
how the two compare.

http://www.ranish.com/

Ranish Partition Manager is a powerful hard disk partitioning tool.
It gives users high level of control for running multiple operating systems,
such as Linux, Windows 98/XP, FreeDOS, and FreeBSD on a single disk.

Partition Manager can create, copy, and resize primary and extended
partitions.
It includes command line interface and simulation mode that works with large
files
so you can safely experiment before working on the real hard drive partition
tables.

CH
 
Bernie said:
I looked at the Ranish site a few days ago before I knew the Vista feature
was even there. As I didn't need to increase the size of a partition I
didn't notice if the function was included. Obviously it would be difficult
to do if there were no free space to expand into but I don't know if there
is a minimum amount required.

I don't know what is meant here with "fault tolerance".
Click to expand...

When used in the context of resizing a partition, "fault tolerant" means
"having the ability to change the size of a partition without destroying the
data contained in the partition." The reason Chad touched on this is
because up until Vista, Windows Disk Management has not been fault tolerant,
so this is a welcome change, except for the people who produce products like
Ranish, of course.

Which leads to a completely off-topic observation: as Vista is more
inclusive than ever of applications that we used to get from a third party
vendor, what is to become of them?
 
No, it definitely didn't work. The partition I was attempting to shrink
stayed the same size (as you, the Vista one from within Vista). It did seem
to just sit there with the hourglass for ages.

I might have another attempt at it later.
 
I need to take a good close look at it again. When I first found out a
while back that Disk Management had evolved in some Vista build to be able
to be fault tolerant, I thought it was a great feature. I thought mine said
"no fault tolerance", but several people have written it up.

I know this is dependent on how many files might need to be moved and the
space involved, but when I used Partition Magic, it always does a good job,
but it can take a considerable amount of time if you're dealing with a drive
with a sizable number of files and folders, etc. on it.

CH
 
Yep and that's a big deal--sorry "fault tolerance" is a rather formal word
and not one I would have given this function, but it's sort of been around
for a while. I should have just said, as Mark pointed out, you could use
Disk Management to format another drive from within the drive you were on,
but the big "corner turner" here in Vista is that you can do resizing like
3rd Party partition managers without loosing your material. Before in
Windows up through XP, you couldn't so its quite a convenience to have in
Vista--in line with the trend that Vista tries to go that extra mile to
protect what's on the HD-- a files's last version is a kind of built in
"undelete" etc.

The 3rd party inclusion issue is probably one hotly debated at MSFT in a lot
of different areas--weighing factors such as costs, also litigation, and
trying to get along with some companies that are partners. MSFT got their
defrag in XP from Execsoft who makes Perfect Disk (I'm not sure about
Vista). Verisign made the old and not very useful IMHO NT Backup in XP.
Windows One Care has drawn a law suit from Symantec, although I wouldn't
give Symantec much in the way of odss odds to prevail in that
litigation--MSFT has the right to be in software business with supporting
apps for an operating system (I would think)--I haven't looked into detail
what Symantec is trying to claim, but I think that it's not a very
promising cause.

CH
 
trying to get along with some companies that are partners. MSFT got their
defrag in XP from Execsoft who makes Perfect Disk (I'm not sure about
Click to expand...

Executive Software makes Diskeeper. Please don't malign Raxco's Perfect
Disk by associating it with Executive Software.
 
Michael--

1000 pardons for the mental lapse. I have been using both Perfect Disk
and Diskeeper for years because the watered down version MSFT ships with XP
doesn't hold a candle to either of those. I like PD better, but it amuses
me to hear you say "Please don't maligh Raxco" because I have watched
numerous pissing contests over which defragger is better for years on
forums. I tried to get out of the line of fire long long ago. Too many
other pissing contests worth fighting.


I prefer PD as my regular defragger, but I like Diskeeper's interface for
boot-time defrags. I also like that PD requires 5% free space, MSKBs like
15%, and the people from Execsoft prefer more free space to get a competent
defrag.


I've done too many threads today. You are correct sir. Raxco indeed makes
Perfect Disk. It diunnnt make Diskeeper. They also have a great guy who
runs the Windows aspect of their business, who is one of 6-7 MVPs on the
planet for discs/--I forget the exact category.

Execsoft makes Diskeeper. Diskeeper has a trial (Diskeeper 10 Pro) for
Vista 32 bit and 64 bit on its site. Diskeeper as far back as Diskeeper
8.0439 Works on Vista.

And just for the road, I know a workaround to get Perfect Disk 7 and up work
on Vista, working on VaVaVista from Vistasoft: You patch the MSI with the
installer Orca from the SDK. Then you can open
the PerfectDisk MSI, and patch the LaunchCondition table (select it frothe
left list of tables). You will see the three entries, one which has a
description of "This program is designed for Windows whatever flavor...

Delete that line, save the MSI and quit Orca.

CH
 
Chad Harris said:
I know this is dependent on how many files might need to be moved and the
space involved, but when I used Partition Magic, it always does a good
job, but it can take a considerable amount of time if you're dealing with
a drive with a sizable number of files and folders, etc. on it.

CH
Click to expand...

If you boot from your PM disc, it installs some sort of pseudo-DOS and then
will run the PM console. It seems to be much faster than running in Windows
and then going through the double-boot process.
 
Bernie said:
So a couple of hours ago I used Vista's built in partition resizing tool.
This is a very welcome addition. It was easy to use and very fast. I
shrank one partition and created two new ones in a couple of minutes. Very
impressive.
Click to expand...

I tried it a few weeks ago but got a volume error.
 
Mark said:
When used in the context of resizing a partition, "fault tolerant" means
"having the ability to change the size of a partition without destroying the
data contained in the partition." The reason Chad touched on this is
because up until Vista, Windows Disk Management has not been fault tolerant,
so this is a welcome change, except for the people who produce products like
Ranish, of course.
Click to expand...

Okay. I was aware of the concept but not the words.
Which leads to a completely off-topic observation: as Vista is more
inclusive than ever of applications that we used to get from a third party
vendor, what is to become of them?
Click to expand...

Well hopefully they will either work to create more value for the user
or do something else. Rather than throw their toys out of the pram and
run to the government shouting "Anti-trust".
 
I've been using the Vista beta Diskeeper 10 on each installation of
Vista and I like it. It does the job very well and with minimum, if any,
disruption to my being able to use the system. I'd like it more if it
could defrag individual files of my choosing. Is there a defragger that
can do that?
 
Thanks for this Mark. Will do this next time I use it. If you have a link
that explains that I'd appreciate it because I've read everything that PM
(now Symantec formerly Powerquest) has available and it's not all that
helpful to me.

CH
 
Yep very good tip. I defrag almost daily and I know I'd get a course of
"you don't need to's."

CH
 
To be honest, I don't recall reading anything about it online, either, but I
have not pursued it. I have PM 8.0, and booting from the disc is mentioned
on page 6 and page 14 of the Quick Start Guide. I don't have access to my
installation at the moment, but I am sure it is also mentioned in the full
..pdf user guide. From there, I just tried it to see what happened, and I
was quite happy with the result. This is my normal way of trying various
applications, BTW; start clicking on things and see what happens.
 
Absolutely necessary for a system drive or a heavily used data drive to be
either defragged daily or have a real-time defragged. System speed can be
as much as 30% slower with a heavily fragmented disk!

Not so important for a back-up drive, since that data isn't accessed very
often, and most of the files written to a backup drive are large and written
once at one time.
 
Back
Top